F E AT U R E S
THE
FIGHT FOR CHINESE RIGHTS A network of lawyers in China has led a bold effort to enforce the rule of law, but Communist opposition is formidable by JUNE CHENG
40 WORLD Magazine • February 2, 2019
F
or three years after her husband’s disappearance, Li Wenzu had no idea where he was or whether he was even alive. Wang Quanzhang, a 42-year-old Chinese human rights lawyer who had represented political dissidents and the victims of land grabs, first went missing during a 2015 crackdown, when Communist agents detained more than 320 lawyers and activists. One by one, the authorities released the other detainees, tried them in sham courts, or paraded them on television for forced confessions. But Li still had no word on her husband, except for a notice in February 2017 that he had been charged with “subversion of state power.” Li believed the radio silence from Wang meant he had resolutely resisted confessing and thus the government was punishing him.
